Train-door control system



Nov.4,1924. 1,514,286

L. P. HYNES TRAIN DOOR CONTROL SYSTEM Filed Aug- 11 1920 2 Sheets-Sheet DOOQ lee I. ffyms New. 4 1924. 1,514,286

. L. P. HYNES TRAIN DOOR CONTROL SYSTEM Filed Aug. 11 1920 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR lee fjfyzzas BY J/AW ATTORNEY Patented Nov. 4, 1924.

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LEE 1?. HYNES, OF ALBANY, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO CONSOLIDATED CAR-HEATING COMPANY, OF ALBANY, NEW YORK, A. CORPORATION OF WEST VIRGINIA.

TRAIN-DOOR CONTROL SYSTEM.

Application filed August 11, 1920.

To (/22 ctr/tom it may concern Be it known that I, P. H'rmss, a citizen of the United States residing at Albany, in the county of Albany and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful In'iprovements in Train-Door Control Systems, the followingbeing a full, clear, and exact disclosure of the one form of my invention. which I at present deem preferable.

For a detailed description of the present form of my invention, reference may be had to the following specification and to the accompanying drawings forming a part thereoij', whcrein Fig. 1 is a diagram of my system;

Figs. 2 and 3 show switch details, and

Figs. 4 and 5 show modifications.

Fig. 6 is detail View illustrating the key switch. I

My invention relates to a system of train door operation, and includes means for subdividing a train line into sections in such a way that an operator on one car can work as one operating unit the doors on his own car and also those on one or more cars either ahead of him or behind him. I also arrange that a single set of door circuits on the operating car can be transferred from a train-line section ahead of to a corresponding section behind the operators station. By this means the duplication of such door sets and the resulting complications are avoided andthe addition oi traindine operation to single-car operation is independout of the normal set of circuits used with a single car. device with my system, heretofore devised, for utilizing a single wire to both open and close a plurality of doors along a car or train instead of using two wires, one for the opening, the other for the closing operation.

Referring to the drawing A and A represent two adjacent sections of train-wire which will be connected in the usual way, by jumpers, from car to car throughout the train. These sections A and A will normally stand connected by contact plate 0. of a drum switch that is shown more in detail in Fig. 3, and will serve for all the doors on one side of the car, or the plurality of cars that may be included in one op erating unit. A duplicate series of sections will be employed for doors on the opposite I also combine the aforesaid.

Serial No. 402,894.

side. Since the said sections A A are normally connected by the plate a, no shifting of the drum switch will be required on any cars of the train except those on which an operator is located, nor will it be required if the cars areoperated singly, the trainline jumpers being then omitted. For convenience the car where an operator is stationed will be designated as a sending car, the others, composing an operating unit, being receiving cars. In a sending car the operator on entering the car will turn the drum switch either to left or right, according as the unit which he is to operate is ahead of him in the train or behind him. By this means the train can be made up priorto and regardless of its subsequent division into units for door operation. Only when the operator enters a car to take his station will he create a section point in the train line by turning the drum switch. Obviously it is not necessary to decide, until the train is about to start, whether one man will control the doors on two cars, or three cars or more and the decision involves only the choice of one particular car as his station. Since the traflic conditions would naturally determine whet-her it was advisable for one man to take charge of the doors on a greater or less number of cars, it is highly desirable that the sectioning of the train line for larger or smaller units should be thus simply and easily provided for.

liloreover it allows the units to be of difi'er-v out lengths. In a ten-car train for instance the two units near the center of the train, where it is liable to be crowded, may be each composed of two cars, with a three-car unit at each end of the train. Or if there is an odd number of cars in the train, either end section can include the odd car. This flexibility of my system is therefore of much practical value. If the drum switch is turned to the right it disconnects wire A from plate (4, creating a break in the continuity'of the train-line at that point, but. the wire A will remain in contact with the plate a. The third, intermediate contactbearing on plate a is connected to the wire 8 leading to the local door-operating apparatus and is at all times in contact with the plate. Hence the said wire 8 and the apparatus to which it leads is shifted to connection with wire A or wire A according to the directiOll which the drum switch is turned. If it connects with A, the switch being turned to the right, then the operator, by means of his local appara tus and circuits, to'be hereinafter described, will have control of the doors on all the cars to the right of him up to the next operators station where the train-line is again broken at the plate a. In addition he will also control the doors on his own car. If he should turn his drum switch to the left, he would similarly have control of all the doors to the left of him as far as the next operators station on that side and the break there in the continuity of the train-line. It will also be observed that this result is facilitated by the fact that the train-line consists of only one wire. The operator will preferably be stationed at the rear end of the unit which he is operating so that he will control the doors between his station and the next operating station towards the forward or leading end of the train. That arrangement will bring the last operator on the rear of the train where he is needed as a lookout and flaginan. If he should go out to flag a train approaching from behind, the next man ahead of him can take temporary charge of the flagmans doors by shifting his own switch a to the rear. If the train reverses its direction, as it might do at the end of its route, the fiagman will merely go back to the car at the opposite end of the train, the other operators remaining in the same positions, but using the train-line on the other side of the cars.

Referring to the local circuits on the car, the two switch contacts represented at d anc. f are in the nature of the usual preparatory key switches which the operator must manipulate before he presses his doorclosing or door opening button. These are usually locked so that he must use a key to unlock them before he can move them and render his push buttons operative. This pre vents the use of the buttons by unauthorized persons. I have added to this switch a push-button interlock which will be described later. The switch (2 is the customary one for connecting to the battery so that the apparatus will have current. The battery wire is marked with the plus sign both at this point and elsewhere in the drawing, it being unc erstood that in practlce a single battery will be used and a wire therefrom brought to each of the points thus marked. The switch d normally stands open as shown in Fig. 1. The switch f normally stands closed, thereby completing the circuit of wire 5 which serves, when the car is a receiving car to transmit the current from the train-wire, via wire 8, to the relay K via wire 7. When the car is a sendmg, instead of a receiving car, the wire 5 must be open. Therefore when the operator uses his key he closes switch d and opens switch The switches 6 b are on the drum switch that operates contact a and one of said switches is closed irrespective of whether the drum is turned to right or to left to make the car a sending car in the way I have described. The closing of either switch b b closes the circuit of the wire 6 which serves to transmit battery current to the train-line whenever the train door-opening button 0 is pressed. The local door-opening button 0 is only for the one car and, when pressed, causes the battery current to flow by wire 7 to the relay K which produces the opening of the doors on the particular car where the operator is stationed. At all of the receiving cars however the current which goes to wire 7 and relay K comes from the train-line by wire 5 and closed switch as I have described having been first delivered to the train wire by the pressing of train button on the sending car of the unit. In either case the relay K becomes energized and its armature, which normally connects the bat-- tery to contact points 0 0 0 is lifted and then it connects the battery to the contact points 0 0 0 which are connected respectively to the door-opening valve-magnet O at each of the several three doors 1, 2 and 3. I have shown in full the circuits at only one of these doors, viz: door 3, these cir cuits being duplicated at the other doors 1 and 2. These door circuits are shown diagrammatically since they are, in substance, the well known circuits of McElroy Patent No. 1,287,717 of December 19, 1918. They are here shown for two doors which move together to close and draw apart to open, and are provided on the front end with the usual fender shoes m and m which, in the event of a door meeting an obstruction in closing, yield inwardly and close an electric. contact at D. Each shoe is connected to a contact W mounted on the moving door and each contact D is connected to a similarly mounted contact S. W and S move respectively in contact with stationary strips G and F (although is out of contact with G when the door is closed, as shown in the drawing). Then the door is open TV passes off from G and bridges two short stationary strips T and R. From the aforesaid contact point 0 controlled by relay K a wire 3 leads to the door-opening valve magnet O, with a branch to each of the strips F. From the opposite contact point 0 wire 4 leads to the door-closing valve-magnet 0 via contact strips T and B when T and R are bridged. The two sides of contacts T and R are in parallel branches of wire 4. Obviously this route by wire t is only completed when the doors are open and at least one set of the short strips T and B bridged byc ntact but it n y when the door is openthat there is any occasion to energize the said door-closing valve-magnet C. As is customary, the momentary energizing of magnet O or magnet C will start the door on its opening or its closing run which run will continue till the door, automatically shifts its own valve at the end of its run and stops.

Assuming the doors to be closed, the lifting of the armature of relay K (following the pressing of button 0 on 'a sending car, or the inflow of current to K via the train-wire and wires 5 and T on a receiving car) will send battery current via point 0 and wire 3 to magnet O and the door will open, bridging T and B when fully open.

Then, to close the doors again it will be.nec essary for the operator to press the button C for the doors on the receiving cars, and then the button C for the doors on his'own sending car. These two buttons C and C merely act to release the corresponding buttons 0 and O which had beenjprevh ously pressed to open the doors and whenso pressed had remained in their depressed position. Thus, referring to Fig. 2, the depression of button O closes the circuit at contacts as and 'y and the contact lever is then looked in its depressed position by the latch 2-. Then the subsequent depression of button C merely throws back the latch z and allows button 0 to rise andbreak the circuit which it had been holding closed at the points so and'y. So long as button 0 remains depressed current is maintained on the relay K and the valve-magnets O'but if desired, the door may itself act, when wholly or partly opened, to break the connection between wire 3 and valve magnet 0. Thus, as shown in Fig. 4, the magnet 0 may be connected to a supplementary strip F covered by contact S, and so re ceiving current from wire 3 until the door is open or partly open, when the contact '8 passes off it and leaves 0 with no current.

Thus 0 merely remains energized until the doors reach their open positlon. Since the doors are ordinarlly open for short periods only, it is not important to cut off the current from the magnets 0 during these pe riods but it may be done in the way I have described, if so desired. Upon the aforesaid unlatching of the opening buttons and the consequent dropping of the armature of relay K to its normal position, battery current will then flow to point 0 and, since strips T and R are now bridged by the open door-contact W, it will flow from point 0 to wire 4 and thence Via T, W and R to door-closing valve-magnet C. That will main on that magnet duringthe long period when the doors are closed, while, of course, there is no .current in the relays It during that period. If either one of the two doors,

which we assume are now in the act of closing, should encounter an obstruction, the corresponding door-shoe Wlll yield and close on its contact D. That will obviously estab lish an emergency circuit from battery to strip Grand thence via W, D and S to strip F and door-opening valve-magnet 0. There upon the door will instantly reverse from its closing to its opening movement, and. will a switch disc of insulation on which is mounted a contact-plate '79 that normally closes the aforesaid switch 7, butwhen turned 90 degrees to the rightopens f and closes (Z as heretofore described. This disc is rotated by means of a key inserted in key hole 9, the key being trapped in the disc: by means of the face-plate (not shown) except whenthe keyhole in the plate registerswith keyhole g in the disc. 'Such a key-switch is well known, but I have added to the disc alug H which, each time that the switch is turned, engages an extension on the upper side of a cross bar J and depresses it. The ends of bar J are loosely engaged by the stems of the door-closing switch-button C and C and rest on pins projecting from the stems. Each timethat the drum switch is turned the depression of bar J also depresses the buttons, so; that, if the dooropening buttons 0 and should happen to be down and latched they would be un latched as I have described in connection with Fig. 2. The purpose of this arrangement is to insure that the door-opening buttonsare not held down and therefore in position to close the circuit of relay K, when the switch cl closes to admit current to the systenrf This insurance is effected because the act of turning the key-switch either to or from its key-releasing position positively pushes down the door-closing buttons which -unlatch the door-opening buttons,

This precaution is desirable, because the doorsopening buttons might be pushed in, while the train is running, inadvertentlyor maliciously, but ineffective at the time to cause the opening of the doors because of the absence of current on the system. Then the turning of the key switch preparatory features not contained in said prior appli-V to door operation would admit current and the doors would open while the train was still running. That accident is avoided by the device just described.

The system herein disclosed, by which a single t *ain-wire is employed for both the opening and the closing of doors on the same side of the car, is also shown and claimed in its broader aspect in my application Serial No. 374,323 filed April 16,1920. So far as it may be involved in the claims of the present case it is only in association with cation, and as a specific matter, since my present invention is not limited to atrain line of that type.

'What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a traindoor-operating system a sectional train-line, a door-operating circuit on each car, and a switch on each car having contacts connected to each of two adjacent sections of the train-line and also to said door-operating circuit whereby said circuit may be connected to either one of the two sections.

2. In a train door-operating system, a sectional train-line, local operating circuits for a group'of two or more 'doors on each car, and a switch for shifting said circuits to either one of two adjacent sections of the train-line.

3. In a train door-operating system a sectional train-line, a local circuit on each car containing a relay, two or more door-operating circuits controlled by said relay and a switch for shifting said relay circuit to either one of two adjacent sections of trainline.

4. In a train door-operating system, a train-line divided into sections, a local dooroperating circuit on each car, a switch contact connected to said circuit and cooperating contacts connected to each of two adjacent train-line sections, and means for moving the switch forward or rearward to connect the said circuit to the forward or rearward train-line sections respectively. 7

5. In a train door-operatingsystem, a sec tional train-line, local door-operating circuits on each car, means for connecting each of said circuits to either one or two adjacent train-line sections, a relay in each local circuit, and means for connecting said relay to thetrain-line or to a local battery.

6. In a train door-operating system, a sectional train-line, switches normally connecting the sections to form a continuous train-line but movable to interrupt the train-line at any car, a local door-operating circuit on each car containing two branches one branch leading to a relay and the other to a switch connected with a source of current and means for connecting each local circult to the train-line on either side of the point of interruption thereof when the interruption occurs.

'1' In a train door-operating system, a sectional train-line, a local door-operating circuit on each car, independent of the train line, a door-opening magnet responsive to the closing of said door-operating circuit, and a door-closing magnet responding to the opening of said door-operating circuit. 7 S. In a train operating circuit a single train line divided into sections, means normally connecting the train line sections but movable to interrupt the train line on any car, a local door opening magnet, a local door closing magnet, and control means for said magnets normally connected to the con tinuous train line.

9. In a train door-operating system, a sectional train-line, switches on each of the several cars normally connecting the trainline sections, a local door-operating circuit containing a relay, a switch normally con 'necting said local door-operating circuit to the train-line, meanson each car for interrupting the train-lineat a point on any car and disconnecting the'local door-operating circuit on the same car from the train-line, a door-opening magnet responding to the flow from the train-line to said local circuit, and a door-closing magnet responding to the cessation of such current-flow.

. 10.- In a train door-operating system, a sectional train-line normally continuous, a local door-operating circuit on each car COIL" taining a relay and normally connected to the continuous train-line, a local circuit connected with a source of current, means for interrupting the train-line on any car, a switch on the same car for connecting the interrupted train-line to the said source of current, and door-opening and door-closing magnets both controlled by the same one of the relays aforesaid. c

11. In a train door-operating system a sectional train-line, switches on-the several cars normally connecting the train-linesections but movable to interrupt the train-line on any car, a local circuit on each car nor- I mally connect-ed'to the continuous train-line, a relay in each local circuit, door-opening and door-closing magnets controlled by the same relay, means for connecting a source of current to the train-line for operating the door-opening magnets and for disconnecting it from the train-line to operate the doorclosing magnets.

Signed at Albany, N. Y., August lth, 1920.

LEE r; HYNES. 

